Parliamentarians in the United Kingdom are angry because of repeated refusals by the Ministry of Defence to provide details about what the purchase of F-35s will cost taxpayers.

The UK defence committee has stated it is unacceptable to keep such figures from Parliament.

The purchase involves 14 F-35Bs.

The defence committee noted that it views the Ministry of Defence’s “failure to provide adequate cost estimates, either on an overall programme basis or on a per-aircraft basis, as wholly unsatisfactory. It amounts to an open-ended financial commitment which can be quantified only in retrospect.”

“The lack of transparency over the costs of the F-35 is unacceptable and risks undermining public confidence in the programme.”